The first real day on campus. Hauling your entire life up a ton of stairs [maybe with the help of an elevator if you’re lucky]. You’re sweaty, tired, and moving as quickly as you can to get moving in finished up. While I can’t do anything about tired and sweaty, move-in doesn’t have to be miserable!

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Pack like items together

My biggest flaw freshman year was throwing whatever square items together in boxes surrounded by smaller items to fill in the gaps. When I got to school, I unpacked these desk items, but the things to hold my desk items were three boxes deep and I had crap out in my room until I unpacked every single box. I know it may seem easy to throw it all together, but you’ll thank your past self on move-in day when everything is in its place [labeled even] move-in day won’t seem like a big deal at all.

Coordinate move-in times with your roommate

If your roommate is moving in at noon, don’t also move in at noon. Having a room filled with boxes of one person is a shit show, but two? Absolutely not. Ask your roommate what time they plan on heading over to school and plan accordingly by coming two hours before or after they are getting there. That way when the second roommate gets there, the first roommate’s things are set up, put away, and the other roommate can work on filling the room with their boxes.

Get there early!

Be the first roommate !! Be !! The !! first !! roommate !!!! Getting there early will save you so much time and effort! You get good parking, no lines, extra help from move-in crews [if you have them] plus you get all the hard stuff out of the way in the morning, have time to take a good nap and then work on organizing and making your room your own.

Use those move-in bins!

If your dorm is lucky enough to have move-in bins… use them! Whether or not you have an elevator these will help you, especially if your car is parked super far from your dorm. Instead of making tens of trips back to your car, with the help of these bins, you’’ make three trips max. Also, with only one bin, your parents can make the trips to and from the car while you get a head start on moving your stuff in. When your parents come back with trip two, give them empty containers you’re sending back home to clear out space in your room. Just remember to give them back when you’re done, there are hundreds of other new students in your dorm wanting to use them as well!

Do the big things first

Do you have things like shoe racks or futons to build? Build them first! Are your clothes taking up half of your dorm? Put them away first! Little things like shower caddies, bedding, and décor do take up a significant amount of space but they can spend the early part of your time for move-in on or under your bed. Do bigger things that might require your parents help and you can save those smaller and time-consuming tasks for once your parents are gone.

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I hope these tips help make your move-in day easy peasy!

❤ Alicia ❤